Matt P

mooer have quite a range of micro preamp pedals as well, most of the famous amps are accounted for. there are also plenty of multi-effects units that have decent amp models built in with the added bonus of some effects as well (i used to use a Zoom 3030 back when i was playing electric in church) the newer zoom units are really pretty good, some will include a Di output as well which removes the exttrra connection and frees up a DI box for use elsewhere. I'm currently researching acoustic preamp/DI units to get a better sound now that we've swapped to IEMs rather than on stage amps (i was using a Trace Acoustic Cube) Matt

can you post any pictures of the damaged parts? that way we might be able to direct you to some suitable replacement parts. failing that you might be able to sell it as-is for the new owner to repair themselves. Matt

with many bands now going over to IEM's i think that on-stage speakers are going to become less common, many guitarists have already embraced technology with Kemper and Helix systems but i can't see many going for the all in one solution that Amonito are trying rather than a powered wedge monitor or one of the pedalboard power amps and then a speaker cab of their choice loaded with their favourite drivers. as an aside i'm not a fan of their control layout with a master knob and then buttons to select the parameter being adjusted, if the space is being given for all the buttons i'd rather have more control knobs for fast on-the-fly adjustments, and the enclosure shape isn't to my taste, not an easy shape to package in a case or bag, something rectangular would be preferable to me (I am fairly old fashioned though and would always prefer a nice valve combo and a few carefully chosen pedals.) Matt EDIT - i've just had another look and they don't give a size for the speaker, as a rough guess looking at the other dimensions and the photographs it looks like a 8" one so it would have to be pretty efficient to make the most of the quoted 200W output, i'd be surprised if it was as "loud as your drummer" as they claim.

since buying the Vox I've not really made much use of it, i wasn't surprised that the floor controllers were scarce as i assumed the same as you (that they didn't sell many) but i was surprised at how expensive they were on the used market, i was expecting maybe 50 to 80 quid. Matt

I'm using the Hercules ones with the wooden bases, one of them has had my McIlroy hanging from it for 13 years and no marks at all, the other has had a variety of instruments with all different finishes (including Nitro) and no marks on those either, i'm using the Hercules floor stands as well which have the same materials with no marks. I did bin the supplied screws and fit with good quality anchors and they've held up to everything including my 1970's P-bas which weighs the same as a small planet. Hercules wall hanger Matt

if you can go for secondhand then there is a huge range of superstrat guitars from numerous companies that should be affordable, Ibanez, Jackson, Charvel, BC Rich, Washburn, Aria, Yamaha, the list could go on, Something with 2 single coil pickups and a humbucker and a floating trem (Floyd rose or similar) can be a very versatile guitar for many types of music but excellent for rock/metal 2 humbuckers with coil splitting options works very well too. Matt

this look like an ingenious idea but i can see a couple of potential issues, the cases seem to be 3d printed for this prototype stage (a perfectly valid choice for production or very low volume manufacture), for production they mention aluminium cases, these will need a taper to allow for easy manufacture (as seen on all pedals made in die-cast boxes) this will make the shape tapered from top to bottom so they will not fit together quite as neatly as the prototypes do, this would also make the connection between the pedals less effective/reliable. The other issue is that the design compromises the internal space quite a bit (shown by the unusual circuit board shape) this will make the circuits slightly more difficult to design and produce. the enclosures are likely to be quite expensive to produce as well, the industry standard Hammond enclosures are around 8 to 12 quid each, as these would need custom tooling i'd expect the price per enclosure to be possibly 3 or 4 times that for the small runs required. Unless they can offer a sound that isn't available anywhere else I don't see these going very far. the competition at €120 is fairly fierce. Sorry to be so negative but years in the production engineering industry just seems to make me look for faults in everything. Matt

Your post made me think of one guitar brand straight away - Blueridge, not as well known as some but having played one i can heartily recommend them, the only dealers i know of are Hobgoblin (although my friend bought his from hound dog music in Whitley Bay about 10 years ago) they only have one in stock but it's a dreadnaught. and a decent price as well i'd say (although it is laminate back and sides) Blueridge BR-40-LH Dreadnought Guitar, Left Handed | Hobgoblin Music my friend has the Br-143 (OM size) and I will confidently put it up against Martins at about 2k, it's a stunning instrument and is just getting better with age. If you could run to the BR-140 then i'd expect that to be pretty much exactly what you are looking for. Matt

my starting point would be Seymour Duncan's wiring section, they have wiring diagrams for most combinations. Seymour Duncan Strat Wiring Diagram | Seymour Duncan rather than having the centre pickup on all the time i would probably go for 3 mini toggle switches, one for each pickup, then you get all the different options, if you always wanted the centre pickup on then you could just remove the centre switch connect the centre white (hot) connection straight to the first lug on the volume control (the one connected to the switches) I'm not sure which combination of reverse wind/reverse polarity you would need for this to stop any nasty hum. (the regular centre strat humbucker is reverse wind + reverse polarity to give hum cancelling when used with either the neck or bridge pickup. it wouldn't be difficult to add in a col split on the humbucker as well if the pickup had 4 conductor wires. like this 3S_2mt_1V_1T.jpg (612×792) (seymourduncan.com)

I've never seen a 2 way blade switch, only 3,4 and 5 way, one option might be to get a scratchplate without the switch hole and fit an on-off toggle switch, or maybe use the 3 way and have 2 different on options and an off option, i'm not totally sure exactly how the connections work on the 3 ways but i have one in a box somewhere that i could check with a meter if you want to know how the connections work. Matt

hello, and welcome to the forum! i've had a quick search and cannot find the particular guitar you posted in a left hand configuration, there has always been a much smaller range of guitars available in left hand so that might sway your decision. i would suggest that it might be worth buying something a bit cheaper (possibly secondhand) as your first instrument, the Yamaha Pacifica guitars are very well respected for good reason, i've played a few and they were all much better than the price tag would suggest, the 112 is incredibly abundant on the used market and the prices are very good (i've heard of them going for under 50 quid in some cases!) For practicing i would suggest one of the many multi-effects units and a pair of good headphones, look for units by Zoom, Korg (the pandora range), Vox and Boss, these will also give you the chance to try out effects and many will have settings to ape the tones and sounds of famous guitarists. the more affordable units will have headphone outs and some will have aux inputs for plugging in an mp3 player or similar so you can play along. Matt

i would probably go for some kind of pedal/desktop FX/modelling unit, if you are going to be using headphones then the speaker and power amp is a bit of a waste of space, I have a couple of very nice amps (all valve) but 99% of the time I use headphones and a desktop modelling unit, (i went for a Vox Unit, the tale of which is Here) As you are tech savvy then one of the clever modern modelling units would be a great place to start, and if you find yourself needing to play live then it can either be run straigh into the PA or you can pick up something like a powered speaker to run it into (which is getting very popular at the moment. look at units from Boss, Line6 etc, the modern Zoom units are pretty good as well at the moment, much better than when i first used them back in the late 90's and really quite affordable, most of these units work great running into amps as well and some have USB outputs for recording. Matt

I have played a fair few Martins over the years (although i don't think i've tried any in your list) for the most part they were nice instruments that were well made, i would shy away from any that aren't all solid wood though (that's mainly the much cheaper ones) with the kind of money that you are looking to spend i would suggest that buying in person is the best option (even if that's not possible right now) Many years ago (15 or so) i was all ready to buy a Martin OM and was convinced that an OM-21 or an 18 was exactly what i wanted, then i played a McIlroy as25 and it totally changed my mind, i went with the McIlroy and haven't regretted it one bit (it was about the same price as the OM-18). The best advice i could give would be to play as many guitars under your budget that you can and pick the one that speaks to you the most, one of my friends has a Blueridge OM guitar that was about 400 quid new in a sale, I would put it up against a 2k Martin any day! Of all the high end guitars that i have played over the years I think the ones that disappointed me the most were Taylors, i have yet to play one that felt special (i think i've played a wide range from the baby ones up to the 900 series) they all felt a bit Meh compared to other guitars in the same price bracket, i have one friend that bought a 312CE as a backup guitar to his Lowden and was thoroughly unimpressed and swiftly got rid (at a loss) where do you live? there are a few acoustic specialists that would be worth visiting once such things are possible, Hobgoblin music for example And are you actually going to be using it live? do you need the pickup and preamp? adding a nice after-market system at a later date can give really good results, i had an AER AK-15 system fitted to my McIlroy and the plugged in sound is excellent. Matt

I have a zoom multi-effects already (a 3030 from about 20 odd years ago) I ended up finding one of the Vox Valvetronix units as recommended by EdwardMarlowe and it's perfect for what i need, i've started buying individual pedals as well to build up a pedalboard just in case i ever get to gig again! I am on the lookout for one of the foot controllers for the Vox though. Matt EDIT - just had a quick search for the VC-4 floor controller and they're pretty rare and an eye watering 150 quid used! (about 3 times what i paid for the actual unit)

i found the picture i took of the controls on my epiphone, the bullet casing is a winchester .38 special, it's got a bit of tape on it to make it a snug fit, the toggle switch has some tubing to take up the extra diameter of the hole and a slightly bigger washer to keep it neat. Matt

i'm not a fan of the standard 4 pot setup either, my epi les paul is just single volume and single tone with the standard 3 way, i have a mini switch in one of the left over holes that splits the bridge pickup and i've got an old bullet casing wedged in the other hole to fill the space. I went with CTS pots and an orange drop cap, i can't remember which switch i fitted, possibly a USA one. ( when i bought the guitar it only had one pickup and a volume control so all the electrics were new) Matt

I bought one when they were first released, over the years I have used it as on stage fold back with the di running to the PA, as a mini PA for mini gigs at friends houses and I once used a pair of them connected with a small pa desk to create a mini PA system for an acoustic open mic event, when I first got it I compared it to a friend's as80 and the sound quality was very close, he was very impressed. For the money I think they're great, I actually havent used mine for a while but couldn't bring myself to sell it so it's on long term loan to my best friend and bandmates as he's got a bit more storage space. Matt

my main issue with the trems on the pacifica and the squiers is that it is usually a 6 screw vintage style design that sits quite flush to the body so has limited up-bend (from the ones i have seen and played) any 2 pivot trem should work great for @wishface (the one on the Ibanez SA range is a very nice 2 pivot design and sits floating above the body so will have decent travel both ways) the main reason for suggesting a slightly pointy floyd rose guitar is the fact that as they are currently out of vogue the prices are rock bottom and there are some excellent bargains to be had if you shop around. I have a handmade superstrat with a burr walnut top and an early floyd rose trem that i paid only 350 quid for, the current price for a similar one is around 2k (and a 12 month wait to get to the top of the list) it was cheap as it was out of fashion when i bought it. now is a great time to buy pointy guitars! Matt

is this guitar going in the hold of the aircraft or is it coming into the cabin with you? if it is going in the hold then the minimum i would use would be a Hiscox liteflite, it's not in your budget but i wouldn't use anything less in the hold of an aircraft, ideally a proper flight case would be the best option to keep it safe but these don't work great for general storage or taking on the bus as they are heavy. the Hiscox ones do come up secondhand quite often but i think you need the jumbo version which is only available in the pro and artist range so is rarer and more expensive. I have about 10 Hiscox cases and most were bought secondhand for under 60 quid, and I have paid as little as 30 quid for one! I don't really trust anything else https://www.flightcasewarehouse.co.uk/industry/product.asp?item=custom-acoustic-flight-case-fits-all-3141-3981 https://www.hiscoxcases.com/collections/acoustic/products/jumbo-style-hard-guitar-case If the guitar is Definitely going in the cabin then just go for whatever fits in your budget. Matt

i'm a huge fan of the Yamaha Pacifica range but your mention of Steve Vai whammy bar use would tend to sway me more to suggesting something with a floyd style trem, the vintage style ones on the pacifica (and 99% of strats) is fine for a bit of wobble or some gentle bends but for anything more a well set up floyd (or similar) will keep in tune a lot better. there are plenty of options in your budget for a good solid superstrat, an Ibanez rg is the first one that springs to mind, then there's Jackson and Washburn a well as BC Rich if you fancy something pointier. Superstrats were very popular in the 80's and early 90's so there are loads on the market. my first guitar was an Aria MA20 which has a floyd style trem, decent pickups and a lovely thin fast neck, i still have it and it still gets used even though i have much more expensive instruments available to me now. Matt

It's not my guitar, hopefully the op will see this and update us. Matt

i would be a little careful taking a 59 gauge string up to E unless the guitar was well constructed, one of my guitars is only warranted up to 12 gauge strings (cedar top being the reasoning i think) there shouldn't be an issue but that's a fair amount of tension. i am lucky enough to have 4 acoustics and only have 2 in "regular" tuning (E-e) i keep one (Gretsch Jim Dandy 24" scale) tuned one step down D-d with 13-56 gauge strings for Blues playing and another (Yamaha DW Dread) is in Nashville tuning, but again one tone down using the "extra" strings from a 12 string set (the regular strings go on one of the normal tuned guitars) so the gauges are - 26,19,14,10,16,12 I find this works really well as i use both the Gretsch and the Yamaha in the band where i am playing along with another acoustic guitarist so having the alternative tunings helps to give a little interest and stops it getting to muddy sounding. i have experimented in the past with Nashville on an electric guitar but it didn't suit the band i was playing in at the time. all my acoustics are fitted with Newtone strings (heritage and masterclass) and i have no intention of buying strings from anywhere else (in fact I have a few more sets on order at the moment) Is anyone else using Nashville tuning? i had intended to put up a post about it but saw this one first so thought i would add it here instead Matt

well after months of eBay/classified/Facebook marketplace searching I managed to bag a Vox Valvetronic Tonelab as suggested/recommended by @EdwardMarlowe. It's excellent! exactly what i was looking for (although it has a bigger footprint than i was hoping for) the amp models are excellent, the effects are very decent and it seems very easy to use (not really dug too deep into it so far) Thank you for the suggestion! Matt

I have never really got on with strats, but I do have a couple of superstrats which I love (no idea why I love one and can't get on with the other!) I also have a mex telecaster which I love, if you want a chunkier sound out of a tele have a look at a 4 way switch mod, I have done it to a couple now and it gives you an extra sound which is very humbuckery and has extra heft, highly recommended. Matt

i've not used those particular ones but i have definitely seen them in shops (especially the rail mount style as it allows for easily moving the hangers around), the only brand i use at home are Hercules, i have 2 of the regular wooden based ones in constant use, they do make an angled one as well which is what i would buy if i needed the angled type. https://www.dv247.com/en_GB/GBP/Hercules-Stands-GSP40WB-Guitar-Wall-Hanger-AGS-Long-Arm-/art-GIT0028555-000?campaign=GShopping/GB&ProgramUUID=5G_AqJarZwoAAAFl0FZyjI8V&gclid=Cj0KCQjw6575BRCQARIsAMp-ksOAMzA04Wra31MR9t3cnQwmjvj97ZiGFljEsve_a6yWUHhpPrNcMqoaAqrNEALw_wcB Matt